On Your Own
by Irken Gir
Summary: Sydney Morgan leaves her old home for reasons unknown even to herself. After boarding a train with no destination in mind, she comes to Heaven with 1,000 bells to her name. She discovers it's much harder to live alone than she imagined.


**Disclaimer:** So I don't own Animal Crossing.

**Author's Note: **Yes, I am sixteen. Yes, I play Animal Crossing seriously. I rock. So, anyway, I started playing again recently and kept getting ideas for 'fics, so I had to write something. (Formatting fixed, obviously.)

**On Your Own—Arrival to Heaven **

Sydney hugged herself, trying to hug her thick trench coat around her body. It was raining, and the autumn chill was seeping through the walls of the train. Though she also wore a long-sleeved shirt under her coat, and some of her favorite jeans, the cold still managed to get at her tanned skin.

Trying to look out the window was useless—not only was it too dark, but the rain had settled too thickly on the glass for visibility to come easily. The train had boarded at ten o'clock that night, and had since made at least twenty stops. Sydney supposed it was after midnight already.

For the twentieth time, Sydney scolded herself for not planning this through. It was painfully late, she had no idea where she was going, and she had only 1,000 bells to her name. She didn't even know why she had left. But here she was, and she couldn't turn back now.

"Next stop, Heaven. Heaven—coming up." Sydney perked up at this. Heaven…it seemed almost like a Hollywood-esque "sign from above." She pulled her coat around herself and waited for the train to slow.

As she did, however, a small, blue cat slid open the door from the next car and padded his way over to her. He caught her eye, and smiled, turning to her. "Hi, can I sit here?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he hopped onto the adjacent seat and wiggled his short legs. "I'm Rover. What's your name?"

Sydney cocked an eyebrow at this odd cat's friendliness, but answered him anyway. "Sydney Morgan."

Rover leaned in a little closer. "You look like you're moving," he observed. Sydney shrugged.

"Maybe."

"Where are you going?"

"Heaven," she answered, her voice cracking, betraying her nervousness.

"Do you have any money?" he asked, cocking his head. He seemed to be examining her, noting how young she looked; she was seventeen, but she had a young face, so she looked only about fifteen.

"A little…"

Rover seemed surprised at this. "Only a little?" Sydney nodded. "Well, I've got a friend in Heaven who I think can help you out," he offered, smiling kindly. Without waiting for Sydney's answer, Rover hopped up and left the car, this time lingering behind the door, a phone held to his ear. Sydney saw his lips moving, but could only make out a few words he was saying without hearing him.

After a moment, he made his way back to his seat with an extra bounce in his step. "My friend said there are a few houses in Heaven he's selling that he's willing to let go for cheap," he announced.

Relief washed over Sydney. The train then started slowing, and the conductor, a small brown monkey, reminded the passengers that their stop had arrived. "Good luck," Rover said, grinning up at Sydney as she stood and slipped her messenger bag over her shoulder.

"Thanks," she said, making her way through the slim isle. Once she deborded (the only passenger to do so), she made her way off of the platform and looked around the cold, rainy village that would be her home for at least a little while. The ground was covered in wet leaves, colored from brown to red to yellow, and the rain was at least lighter here. There was a stone path leading south from the platform, and tunnels on either side of the tracks. She couldn't see much father, other than a few house lights in the distance.

She waited, shivering, trying to decide where to go, before she heard footsteps and light panting. "Hello! Sydney?" Hearing her name made Sydney calm a little. This might have been Rover's friend. "I'm Tom Nook," he started, holding up a flashlight to look her over. As he did so, Sydney saw that he was a pudgy raccoon with an apron hugging his hips. His stomach fell over the thin strings that kept it secure around his body.

"I'm Sydney," she said, rubbing her arms to warm herself.

"Good, good. I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier; I'm not as young as I used to be," he said with a cheery grin. "Well, it's late, and I'm certain you would like to get out of the cold wet, yes?" Sydney nodded. "Then let's head over to your new house, shall we?" Sydney nodded again, something stirring inside of her that kept reminding her how odd it was to have her _own_ house, all to herself.

Nook turned around and waved to her to follow, and she did. He waddled south, along the stone path Sydney had been eyeing earlier. He chatted idly about his children and his store as they walked. Finally, he reached a small house situated in the bottom left hand corner of a group of four houses. "Here you are," Nook said. "The other houses are open too, but I set up a makeshift bed for you in this one. I'm sure you'll be hungry when you wake up, so just follow the path back to the train station to find the map.

"Thank you, sir," Sydney said, wiping some of her rain-soaked black hair from her face.

Nook waved his paw. "It's not a problem. Now, as for payment…" he trailed off, his eyes drifting to her bag.

"Oh, this is all I have," she said, handing him her bag of 1,000 bells. Nook looked inside and frowned.

"This isn't nearly enough… This house is worth 20,000 bells. This puts us in a rather thorny situation, doesn't it?" Sydney's heart sank. "But you need a place to stay, don't you?" he continued. He paused for a moment, and then smiled up at her. "Well, I can take this as a down payment. If you stop by my shop tomorrow, I can arrange for you to work part-time to help pay off your debt. We'll discuss our terms then, yes? For now, you go and get yourself some sleep."

Again, relief clouded Sydney's being. "God, thank you," she panted, sighing and hugging the fat raccoon. Nook tensed up in surprise, then pat her on the back.

"It's no problem. Now go on inside and get yourself settled. I'm afraid it's not very large at all, but it should suit you for now, yes? You're soaked. Go ahead, sleep." Nook patted the back of her hand with his furry paw and smiled at her. "I'll see you in the morning."

With that, Sydney nodded and took the key to her home, and went inside. Nook watched her close the door behind her, then waddled off towards his own home. Sydney felt for the light switch and flicked it on easily. Nook hadn't lied: the house was tiny. It was only about the size of an apartment kitchen. But she was still pleased to be in a warm house with a bed, even if it was just a tiny, beaten up mattress on the floor with some old blankets.

She put down her bag next to the mattress and plopped down, testing its softness. It felt all right for sleeping. Pulling off her boots, and then stripping down, Sydney found some dry clothing in her bag and pulled them on before crawling underneath the old blankets. Old they might have been, but they were warm.

Sydney was asleep within minutes.


End file.
